The Old and the New

What an interesting combination. I have been trying to listen to the radio and read Henry Adams books at the same time, and unfortunately it is really not working. The radio personalities, as always, really, have nothing better to do than to talk trash about people and say stupid stuff. If I wanted to listen to that I would have put on talk radio, not a music channel. Not that country music really is a great backdrop for a book on Midieval France and its architecture, but I don't have early French music available right now. I suppose that is what libraries are good for, so maybe I'll be in a more total immersion tomorrow, after a trip downtown.

I still wonder whether I am missing a lot of good writings by just reading the books I wind up with in my room and those on the list I compiled of the Internet. But I am not sure I have enough hours in my life to read everything worth reading. And that is just the writings available in English. Many of the books on my list that are optional are in Japanese, or Finnish, or some other language I can't read yet. And then there are all the things I don't want to skip out on, that make up my own life. Considering that I am 28 and have been reading and studying since I was 8 or so, I can't imagine someone having enough time to be completely well educated before they are in their 90's. There will always be subjects and topics I have missed and topics I only know basics about, and I know a lot by many people's standards. And this is just looking at book-learning, not naturalists' skills and understanding. I can see why the first man to use the title 'philosopher' or 'lover of knowledge' felt it necessary, to replace the term 'wise man' which had previously been used for such people, according to Abelard. It would feel horribly pretentious to call myself wise at this point in my life, if it ever could be comfortable. Just as it would be rediculous to pretend I know nothing.